PM Modi Likely to Get Nitish Kumar's Invite for Swearing-in

Patna: Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee, the chief ministers of Delhi and West Bengal, have confirmed that they will attend Nitish Kumar's oath ceremony in Patna as Bihar chief minister on Friday, November 20.

Mr Kumar will take oath along with his council of ministers at 2 pm that day. The Bihar government is also expected to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Union ministers like Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley for the event.

Both Ms Banerjee and Mr Kejriwal prominently supported Nitish Kumar against the BJP-led alliance that he vanquished last week. Six months ago, Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party too had subjected the BJP to a humiliating defeat in the Delhi assembly elections.  

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and deputy Rahul Gandhi, whose party participates in the coalition that swept the Bihar election, are expected to attend the oath ceremony; Mr Kumar has also invited all Congress chief ministers.

It was not immediately clear whether Mr Kumar would invite BJP veteran LK Advani, who has along with three other party seniors revolted against Prime Minister Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah over the BJP's Bihar debacle, demanding that accountability be fixed.

Mr Shah scripted the party's campaign strategy in the crucial election and, along with PM Modi, led it. The BJP along with its three regional allies could manage to win only 58 of Bihar's 243 seats; the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance has won 178, an absolute majority.

Mr Kumar's government is expected to have more ministers from partner Lalu Yadav's RJD than his own JDU. Lalu's party is the single largest in the new assembly, with 80 seats.

Once bitter rivals, Nitish and Lalu came together to stall the BJP which had won 32 of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats in the national election last year along with its regional allies. That was months after Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP, an ally of 17 years, after it became clear that it would be projecting his arch political rival Mr Modi for Prime Minister.

The BJP decision not to name a chief ministerial candidate for Bihar meant Nitish Kumar and PM Modi faced off in an acerbic and bitter battle for Bihar.